Thanks to an outstanding team effort in the Alps, Jumbo-Visma and Jonas Vingegaard are poised to unseat two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar. But the Slovenian is far from being defeated.
Now Tadej Pogacar (right) has to attack: On the way to Alpe d’Huez, the Slovenian attacked twice, but was unable to gain a lead over leader Jonas Vingegaard.
In 1986, five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault suffered a crushing shame at the Col du Granon. Two months later, one of cycling’s greatest careers was over.
In 2022, the more than nine percent steep mountain in the Alps was back on the program for the first time. And once again the dominator of recent years, Tadej Pogacar, suffered an unexpected, downright sensational defeat at an altitude of 2400 meters.
But nothing is over at Pogacar, certainly not his career, he is only 23 years old. And he hasn’t even given up the dream of winning the Tour de France for the third time in a row.
Vingegaard takes almost three minutes from Pogacar within five kilometers
Pogacar lost 2:51 to Jonas Vingegaard in a five-kilometer stage on Wednesday that will go down in history. For some professionals, the race would have been over after such a setback. But those who know the Slovene well, knew even in that supposedly bitter moment that he is psychologically almost unbreakable.
“It’s just a bike race,” wrote his fiancé Urska Zigart on Twitter. She did so at a time when she might not have spoken to him yet. ‘He will now be able to do what he does best. Attack.”
Shortly thereafter, Pogacar congratulated his rival Vingegaard with a smile. In a moment that was new to him, he showed greatness. He told a journalist: «Nothing is over. I lost three minutes today. Maybe I’ll win back three tomorrow.”
It didn’t happen that way. On the following stage on Thursday, Pogacar attacked twice en route to Alpe d’Huez but was unable to open a gap over Vingegaard. But in the Pyrenees there are still two difficult stages in the final week of the race that could suit Pogacar better than those in the Alps. The climbs are a little shorter but no less steep. Above all, the 18th section over the Col d’Aubisque and the Col de Spandelles to Hautacam promises attacks.
According to early weather forecasts, rain in the Pyrenees cannot be ruled out. Pogacar got some of his best performances in miserable conditions. But the influence of the weather can also be overestimated. Speculations that Pogacar could not cope with the heat on the Col du Granon are rejected by his UAE team, as are suspicions that he was poorly fed before the final climb. Neither was the case, said his team boss Mauro Gianetti of the newspaper “Wielerflits”. He also has no Covid symptoms.
The decisive factor for Pogacar’s slump on the 11th stage was the outstanding team performance by Jumbo-Visma, said Gianetti. “You did something extraordinary.” Already on the third last climb of the day, the Col du Télégraphe, Jumbo-Visma Pogacar attacked with different drivers. At the Col du Galibier they intensified the attacks.
Attrition strategy no longer works for Jumbo Visma
Jumbo-Visma proved more impressively than is rarely seen that cycling is a team sport. Like in a picture book, they implemented what their sports director Merjin Zeeman announced on Monday in an interview with the NZZ.
But now that the Dutch team is the leader, but other drivers like Primoz Roglic have lost a lot of time, the strategy of attrition would no longer work. Pogacar just has to follow Vingegaard. And strike yourself at the right moment.
Pogacar’s biggest disadvantage is the weakness of his team. It’s easy to imagine that UAE will later regret leaving their team’s second-best climber, João Almeida, at home. Even with the Portuguese, the distance to the outstanding Jumbo Visma collective could not have been compensated. But it would have been a little less drastic.